Mourinho recently insisted his side were the "little horse" in the race for the title, and has further downplayed talk of the trophy returning to Stamford Bridge for the first time since 2009/10.

"It's time to kill the horses," Mourinho told BBC's Match of the Day. "Manchester City is a Jaguar. You cannot put an 'L' plate on a Jaguar.

"We were winning 2-0 at half-time but I was not happy with that because I didn't like the way we played in the first half. I was concerned about the details of our game which will be more important in the long term, rather than the result of the game.

"We are happy with what we are doing and at this moment in time we are top. That is great, but we want to play well and improve and that is it.

"I want to secure a Champions League position and the further we are from fifth place, then we can begin to think about other things. For now, my concern is increasing the gap between ourselves and fifth."